i've been reading a bill byrson book called 'the lost continent'.. i have read a few of his books and have loved them. this one, however, hasn't been overly exciting for me and it's taking me a long time to get through it. i wanted to share a couple things that have struck me while reading...
..."And you should see American closets. They are always full of yesterday's enthusiasms: golf-clubs, scuba diving equipment, tennis-rackets, exercise machines, tape recorders, darkroom equipment, objects that once excited their owner and then was replaced by other objects even more shiny and exciting. That is the great, seductive thing about America- the people always get what they want, right now, whether it is good for them or not. There is something deeply worrying, and awesomely irresponsible, about this endless self-gratification, this constant appeal to the baser instincts....
The whole of the global economy is based on supplying the cravings of two percent of the world's population. If Americans suddenly stopped indulging themselves, or ran out of closet space, the world would fall apart. If you ask me, that's crazy."
"You only go on a long-distance bus in the United States because either you cannot afford to fly or- and this is really licking the bottom of the barrel in America- you cannot afford a car. Being unable to afford a car in America is the last step before living out of a plastic sack. As a result, most of the people on long-distance buses are one of the following: actively schizoid, armed and dangerous, in a drugged stupor, just released from prison, or nuns. Occasionally you will also see a pair of Norwegian students because they are so pink-faced and healthy-looking and they wear little blue ankle socks with their sandals. But by and large a ride on a long-distance bus in America combines most of the shortcomings of prison life with those of an ocean crossing in a troop-ship. "
"In the morning I woke early and experienced that sinking sensation that overcomes you when you first open your eyes and realize that instead of a normal day ahead of you, with its scatterings of simple gratifications, you are going to have a day without even the tiniest of pleasures; you are going to drive across Ohio."
..."And you should see American closets. They are always full of yesterday's enthusiasms: golf-clubs, scuba diving equipment, tennis-rackets, exercise machines, tape recorders, darkroom equipment, objects that once excited their owner and then was replaced by other objects even more shiny and exciting. That is the great, seductive thing about America- the people always get what they want, right now, whether it is good for them or not. There is something deeply worrying, and awesomely irresponsible, about this endless self-gratification, this constant appeal to the baser instincts....
The whole of the global economy is based on supplying the cravings of two percent of the world's population. If Americans suddenly stopped indulging themselves, or ran out of closet space, the world would fall apart. If you ask me, that's crazy."
"You only go on a long-distance bus in the United States because either you cannot afford to fly or- and this is really licking the bottom of the barrel in America- you cannot afford a car. Being unable to afford a car in America is the last step before living out of a plastic sack. As a result, most of the people on long-distance buses are one of the following: actively schizoid, armed and dangerous, in a drugged stupor, just released from prison, or nuns. Occasionally you will also see a pair of Norwegian students because they are so pink-faced and healthy-looking and they wear little blue ankle socks with their sandals. But by and large a ride on a long-distance bus in America combines most of the shortcomings of prison life with those of an ocean crossing in a troop-ship. "
"In the morning I woke early and experienced that sinking sensation that overcomes you when you first open your eyes and realize that instead of a normal day ahead of you, with its scatterings of simple gratifications, you are going to have a day without even the tiniest of pleasures; you are going to drive across Ohio."
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